The present invention relates to an apparatus for routering tuberous sprouts. Tubers such as potatoes and sweet potatoes are widely used as typical cooking materials. The sprouts of tubers must be cut out and their skins must be peeled before the tubers are actually cooked. When a large amount of tubers are to be cooked, sprouts and skins must be mechanically removed.
Conventionally, the sprouts of the tubers are cut out or routered by a cooking knife or a flat blade 1 with a router, as shown in FIG. 1. The sprouts are manually cut and then gouged out in a conical shape. According to this manual method, two types of blades must be used: one is a blade for cutting the extended portions of the sprouts; and the other is a blade for routering the inner portions of the sprouts. Since the sprouts of the potatoes are toxic, the sprouts must be completely routered. Furthermore, since there are a plurality of sprouts in each potato, and the sprout portions are recessed, they must be manually routered one by one, resulting in a time-consuming and cumbersome operation. In addition to this disadvantage, since the sprouts are routered in a conical shape, edible portions are routered together with the sprouts, thus wasting good cooking material. Furthermore, since the potato has a three-dimensional surface, skill is required to peel the skin and remove the sprouts. Unskilled cooks may hurt themselves.
A conventional sprout routering apparatus is described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 47-795. In this apparatus, a cutter with a tapered head is detachably mounted on a rotating shaft of an electric motor horizontally mounted on an upper portion of a frame of the apparatus. A water supply pipe is disposed above the head of the cutter to be opened by a valve upon operation of a pedal disposed at one side of the frame. A water drain pipe which communicates with the outside of the apparatus is connected to a drain water reservoir disposed below the cutter. A net basket is detachably disposed in the reservoir to collect the peelings of the skin and sprouts. According to the apparatus described above, an operator grasps a potato and urges the sprout against the cutter, so that skill and labor are required, and the operator may be hurt by the cutter.